Business

Chipotle in Riverhead expected to open by spring 2016

chipotle_site

Another fast food restaurant is heading for Route 58. 

The Riverhead Town Planning Board on Thursday unanimously approved a site plan to put a Chipotle Mexican Grill in a former auto showroom building adjacent to Lowe’s.

 

Chipotle is a Denver-based Mexican restaurant chain that was founded in 1993 and now has more than 1,700 locations, including several in western Suffolk and Nassau counties.

Jaclyn Peranteau, an engineer for the applicant, said after the approval that they will still need to file covenants with the county and obtain a building permit from the town before renovations on the building can begin, a process that should take about six weeks.

She expects it will take about four months to complete the construction and that the restaurant will be open by the spring of 2016.

The 2,800-square-foot building was once home to Riverhead Suzuki, which closed in 2012 when Suzuki stopped selling new cars in the United States.

The property is zoned Business Center, a zone that permits restaurants.

The town planning department also still has a pending site plan application to put a Sonic Drive-In restaurant on the 1.8-acre property across form Apple Honda on Route 58. That application, which has yet to be discussed at the Planning Board level, also calls for a new retail building on the same property.

Photo Caption: The future site of a Chipotle Mexican Grill on Route 58. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch) 

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